My military experience has taught me that the fastest way to adopt a habit is through immersion. Immersion requires a drastic and immediate change of habits.
Anyone who has been through military boot-camp knows what I'm talking about. I remember arriving at Lackland Air Force Base one winter night many years ago, standing outside of the barracks being yelled at by an immaculately clean drill instructor. I remember thinking, "What the hell have I gotten myself into?" Being a military brat, I had an idea of what to expect, but you really have no idea of the drastic overhaul that occurs until you've gone through something like that. By the third week of training, everything was (somewhat) routine, we knew what to expect and how to respond.
So what does military boot-camp have to do with losing body-fat and looking good?
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Why We Don'tse "Cardio" Equipment
Strength Studio is moving into a new facility in less than a month, and several folks have asked "What type of 'cardio' equipment will you have?" When I tell them, "We don't use 'cardio' machines," they are puzzled. So for those who may not know, I will address several common questions we receive and explain why we don't do traditional "cardio" exercise.
"No Cardio? How do you train your heart?"
The heart serves the needs of all life sustaining organs and the muscular system. It is the demands placed upon the muscular system that determines how hard the cardiorespiratory system is working. Your heart does not know if you are doing yoga, running up a hill, or performing a set of squats. Muscular effort is mechanical work, and mechanical work is the passkey to all of your metabolic machinery. There is no such thing as "cardio" exercise; all exercise (mechanical work) of adequate intensity is "cardio." In reality, low intensity "Cardio," the way most people perform it, is an introductory form of exercise; it is beneficial for the severely de-conditioned, the elderly, or those who want to kill some time. Plodding along on a treadmill, or sitting on a lifecycle while watching "Ellen" is not an effective use of time.
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Health and physical fitness are moving targets that require periodic adjustments.
Here are 3 simple strategies that will help you in the long rung.
Accept your current physical state
Regardless of the circumstances or events that led to your current physical state, that is where you are and that's your reality. This is the place from which you must start. Your past physical prowess(or lack thereof) is not relevant to your current state of being. What may have worked for you back in your younger days may not work now. Start from the present.
Respect Your Joints
You are only as healthy as your joints. A healthy joint is mobile, stable, and pain free. If your current activities are causing painful wrists, shoulders, knees, hips, and/or low back, you need to re-evaluate what you are doing. Joint pain is not a right of passage to a fit body. Joint pain will decrease your level of spontaneous activity which is of primary importance if you want to stay healthy and look good for a lifetime.
You must establish optimal joint mobility before loading the body with stressful activities. Avoid exercises that place excess stress on your joints. Get evaluated by a qualified professional before engaging in activities such as high-intensity strength training, Olympic lifting, and sprinting.
Develop habits that produce measurable improvements
Goals are useless unless they are attached to a behavorial change. I prefer to set habitual goals that cause change. Here are 3 habitual goals that will produce positive physical changes:
“I will eat 3 servings of fibrous organic vegetables along with 3 servings of high quality animal proteins every day.”
“I will eliminate sugary beverages from my daily diet.”
“I will go to bed before 10:30pm every weekday.”
Customize your habitual goals based on your needs.
You’ve heard the claims: “If you want the long lean legs of a dancer, do Pilates or yoga" or “To get supermodel sexy, do the Brazilian Butt Lift workout by Leandro,” or "To build an athlete's body you gotta train like an athlete and do Functional exercise." Such claims are made perpetually, yet most are wrong or just flat-out lies. I’m not bashing these methods, I'm a big fan of yoga, and progress can be made doing a wide variety of activities. But I will explain why the conventional association between activity and appearance is incorrect.
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Gut health is rarely considered as an obstacle when trying to improve performance or when overcoming an injury. Yet, gut health has a massive impact on how fast you recover from training, illness, and/or trauma. Without a healthy gut, your immune function will be compromised and you will not extract all the vital nutrients from food or supplements. This can lead to an inability to fight infection and create nutritional inadequacies that will exacerbate the problem.
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1.) Health and Fitness are not interchangeable terms
A healthy person is someone who is free of disease and chronic ailments. A fit person is someone who can perform physical tasks well above a resting threshold.
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The accumulation of things, habits, and ideas are part of the American experience. But sometimes less is better; you may need to eliminate something in order to facilitate your goal. In order to achieve a positive change, you must remove obstacles that are holding you back. When you upgrade your mental software, you must first remove the old software. Many of you have the mindset of “any obstacle in my way, I’ll go through it with intense might and perseverance!” This is a good mindset, in certain situations, but not always efficient. Maybe you need to simply give up, go around, or avoid the obstacle.
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1) Get sufficient sleep the night before. To function at peak capacity, most adults need 7-9 hours of deep sleep; that means sleeping all through the night without interruption. Here are a few tips to help you achieve deep sleep:
- Eat last meal no later than 9pm
- No sweets or alcohol with last meal
- Avoid caffeine and stimulants after 2pm
- Ensure that bedroom is pitch black, the slightest bit of light can inhibit deep sleep
- Make sure all electronic devices are off and at least 4 feet away from bed
2) Eat a high protein, grain-free breakfast. A high-protein, low-carb, grain-free breakfast is the best way to maximize energy. Here is a sample breakfast (what I ate this morning):
- Ground Bison Patty (6-8 oz), pan fried in organic butter
- Raw Pecans, 1 handful
- Organic Blueberries, 1/3 cup
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The Most Important Nutrient for Fat Loss: High Quality Animal Protein
The word protein is derived from the Greek word, “proteios”, which means “of prime importance.” Protein is very important because it is involved in every biological process that runs the body. Without adequate intake of high-quality animal proteins, physical performance and appearance will be compromised.
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I am an advocate of intermittent fasting and low-carbohydrate diets. But
like all diet plans, they eventually lose effectiveness. A way around
the inevitable diet slow-down is to follow a phase-shift diet.
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